Robotic welding machines have been used across various industries for the purpose of assembling and joining components. For example, robotic welding machines have been used to weld vehicle frame components together and to weld body panels to welded vehicle frames. Typically, human-operated cranes are used to transport various components to an assembly station. The components are mounted on a fixture that positions the components in a desired welding orientation. A robotic welding machine is then programmed to weld the components together as they are held by the fixture. Although the robotic welding machine improves the efficiency and accuracy of the welding process itself, there are often delays and errors that result from the human-operated fixturing process. As a result, several attempts have been made at more fully automating the component transport, fixturing, and joining processes.
One example of an automated assembly system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,272,805 (the '805 patent) issued to Akeel, et al. on Dec. 28, 1993. The automated assembly system of the '805 patent uses automated guided vehicles to transport desired components to an assembly station, where a material handling robot is used to place the components on a fixturing platform. The fixturing platform includes a plurality of programmable robotic locators, which are programmed to receive and clamp the particular components positioned there by the material handling robot. Once the desired components have been clamped into the programmable robotic locators, a processing robot is used to weld the clamped components together.
Although the system of the '805 patent may help minimize the delays and errors associated with human fixturing, it may not be able to properly fixture certain shapes of components or consecutive components of varying sizes. Specifically, the programmable robotic locaters of the '805 patent are disposed in certain locations of the fixturing platform and they are programmed to orient themselves with respect to a particular assembly. Therefore, they may be unable to accommodate components that do not particularly match the design of the programmable robotic locators installed on the platform. Moreover, the system of the '805 patent may require the use of numerous fixturing platforms along a manufacturing line, each fixturing platform having a particular installation of programmable robotic locators, which are programmed to clamp a particular assembly of components.
The disclosed systems and methods are directed to overcoming one or more of the shortcomings in the existing technology.